The Great Henna Experiment - Part 5

And, this, my friends, is red hair. Y'all love Lucy, right? Supposedly this is what she used when she could get it imported from Egypt.

I do think there were some sections that didn't get completely covered...the paste was so thick it was hard to tell by myself. And getting it rinsed out was interesting...let's just say no camera allowed. But I think my natural color was strawberry enough that those strands will blend in just fine.

For now, it's good-night...I'll take some more pix as the copper tones down over the next few days. Fingers-crossed!

The Great Henna Experiment - Part 4

Well, don't get me wrong...I love my natural hair color. I'm actually cringing just looking at this picture right now. What am I thinking again?

My little photographer just happened to get up for some allergy medicine (drat fall grasses!), so she took some of the beginning application shots.

Dear Lord! What in THE world??!! Anyone else like to smear some pond scum on their head?

Did I mention the mess?

All wadded up and ready to sit...can you see the orange skin on my forehead? Yeah, forgot the vaseline step. Supposedly it washes right off your neck/ears/face. We'll see about that. Anyway, I finished about 9:35 p.m....it's now covered with plastic wrap to cook for 2 hours. Worst case scenario is that I missed a bunch of random spots and will look blotchy. So I guess I'll be glad I bought extra and be doing this again tomorrow night!

I think it's time for a homemade granola bar...new recipe from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler...do you like our sprinkles? This was part of home-ec today! And I'm going to curl up with my Jane and Friends book club selection for the month....The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Oo-we-oo. Later...R

The Great Henna Experiment - Part 3

Two hours and a few minutes have passed...rinsing, rinsing, rinsing...


Ooooh, I don't know about this guys. That's some realllllly red hair.


Okay, so now I have four hours to get up the nerve to smoosh this stuff onto my head....hmmmm. Granted, it is supposed to darken over then next 4 days as part of the oxidation process. Oh, I'll probably do it...I mean I've been worse than a ravishing red-head before and survived! Stay tuned....

The Great Henna Experiment - Part 2

I did my research and it seems my batch of henna is ready to test! Of course, I was right that I shouldn't have put tap water in the mix...oh well. The goop has darkened nicely and smells, hmmm, like old tea. I mixed in a little ground cinnamon to spice up the aroma a bit (it won't change the dye). My hairdresser saved a slice of my hair last week so here goes the strand test:


Smearing it on with something I found as I rummaged through the junk drawer:


And, wah-lah! Must say (in case you weren't thinking it already) that it looks like something Eric pulled out of the shower drain....eeewwwwwwwww:

I'll let it sit for a couple hours or so then we'll see! I don't think I'll attempt going to watch soccer practice before I put it on my head so it's going to have to wait until after the kiddos are in bed for the main event.

The Great Henna Experiment - Part 1

Since I've only been talking about using henna to dye my hair for what? One, two years now? I decided it was high time to take the plunge. Sounds like the makings of a fun blog series for the day, eh?

I ordered my body art quality henna from Tap Dancing Lizard over at Henna for Hair .com a couple weeks ago. I bought the bulk pack of what is supposed to be the least intense colored kind of the stuff. Bulk because I think I'll want to do it again and my sister is game to try it too...with our mops it's going to take a lot of leaves!

So here's the line up:

Lemon juice (bottled for ease and no pulp), my box of henna, and some cheap-o conditioner to assist in rinsing it out.

I have walking inspiration around my house...check out the luscious set of auburn locks my dear Kai-boy was blessed with:

I'm expecting a few shades lighter, maybe more of a strawberry for my results.

This is what henna looks like straight out of the bag...it's the ground leaves of the henna plant, in case you're wondering and that is 200g's.


Added 2 cups of bottled lemon juice and began to stir...going for yogurt-like consistency. Gross! I told everybody it was the glaze for last night's pot roast and they all gagged!


Also put in 1/2 cup of water which I'm sure would be better off distilled or something, but it's tap:
And that's it for now...I mixed it up yesterday afternoon and it needs to sit until the dye releases, probably about 24 hours. I'm really not sure what I'm looking for...better do some more research. Next up will be the strand test...oh and some DrPepper for the afternoon as it's going to be a long night!

Sunday Funnies

I have taught preschool Sunday School for ages and love it! My favorite thing over the years has been the funny things they say. I really should keep a notebook...maybe I'll start after today. So this morning we were talking about how God takes care of us, the animals, the flowers etc. during our Bible storytime. Enter the comments:

"My shirt has red AND black AND grey!"

"Mine is a rainbow!"

"I have an owie right here."

"I have a cat and he puked on the living room carpet this morning!"

"Do you think this is a scab or just a bug bite?"

The cat puke threw us, I told the little boy that was gross, but thanks for sharing. Eric is snorkeling over by the counter, trying to smother his guffaws, and I just keep on going...you just never know what's on their precious little minds! Love it!

Great Midwest Balloon Fest

Whee! With Eric out of town, I decided to load up the kids for a Fabulous Fun Friday Adventure! A friend had posted the Great Midwest Balloon Fest on FB (thanks Jaime!) so off we went.

It was a bit comical loading all our stuff on the stroller through the parking lot (i.e. field) and down the huge hill to the viewing area. But our little camp was just right.


We arrived early, around 4:30 p.m. and enjoyed walking around all the fun things like jumping in the bouncy-deal, foot-long corndogs, smoothies and sno-cones! Because of the high winds, the mass launch didn't start until about 6:30, but it was soooo coool!




Later, we went down the field a bit to be close enough to see the baskets and burners.


At nightfall the Glo started! The ballooners were back to the field from the earlier launch and this time were tied down and would light their burners turning the balloons into giant beautiful light bulbs! The crowd would count-down 5-4-3-2-1-GLO! Really fun! We also enjoyed the live bands for awhile...then it was time to head on home.

We were grubby and tired, but our glo necklaces kept everyone entertained as we made the long trek back to the van...this time UP the giant hill with the loaded stroller. HA! Two guys saw me stuck at half-way, hollering for Elena and Kai to come help push and they came to lift us up the rest of the way...shew! It was a blast...so head over there tonight or tomorrow if you get a chance...here's the link for times and info: Great Midwest Balloon Fest.